Cherry Research Part 2

Cherry Research part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Jim McFerson with the Washington tree Fruit Research Commission recently spoke to a large group at the annual Hort Convention in Yakima about some of the research issues they are working on. He discussed some mid-level issues.

McFERSON: Canker, birds, brown rot and then crop load management. Some how to get these new self-fertile varieties on gisela root stock so they don’t fruit themselves to death. Other medium priority issues; labor. Same old story but can we use mechanical assist or automation in some way to help us. Nutritional benefits of cherries. That’s important. We don’t really do research in that.

He says that NW Cherries does nutritional research and uses that in their marketing efforts.

McFERSON: We want to test science to see if those varieties work for us under our conditions; new varieties. Soil heath, weed and water management. It’s the hoe and grow concern but it’s really important. Then stem vitality maintenance. How do we keep the cherries looking good with the stem on.

And then he takes a look at some of the lower priority issues for their research.

McFERSON: AgWeather Net, our weather forecasting service. Our horticultural manipulation. How do you train, prune the crop, etc. New root stocks that provide us a quicker establishment, quicker productivity. And finally virus identification and elimination. This one never ranks very high unless you’ve got a bad virus problem in your block. Then it becomes really important.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.